For Once, Joe's Being All Ears

It shouldn't have been like this, I thought as I watched Joe Lieberman trudge through the heat last week, struggling to overcome his challenger's 13-point lead.

It didn't have to be, Jerry Ingallinera said when he emerged from the East Hartford library with his wife, Fran.

Back in February, he and other members of the Democratic town committee's 2nd District wrote Lieberman. They were losing confidence in him. They were concerned about his stance on the war, his cozy relationship with the president, not to mention his MIA status around town. They wanted to talk.

An aide called, Ingallinera said; he offered to send a surrogate. But Joe never showed up.

And then there he was Friday, glad-handing passersby, asking folks for their support, telling those who expressed concern for the war, ``Hey, I hear ya.''

If that were true, Ingallinera said, he might have shown up all those months ago, maybe heard them out, given them the opportunity to return the favor and perhaps persuade most of the members not to support his challenger.

If he did, I thought watching him weigh a 3-pound eggplant for the gaggle of television cameras at the farmer's market outside the library, maybe he would have realized that he was headed into the fight of his political life, that the rich guy from Greenwich was tapping into a rising wave of discontent that he just might ride into victory.

Maybe the veteran senator wouldn't have had to wander around the state going from one lame event to another: a chaotic children's museum, a nearly empty gas station, a couple of fast food joints where folks were excited to see a celebrity of sorts, but a lot more interested in getting their lunch and heading back to work.

``Is this a wedding or a funeral?'' asked Tamara McKinney as she jockeyed around Lieberman's caravan to get back to work.

Good question.

Staffers said the choice of locations was all part of a carefully organized plan; each day had a theme. Meanwhile, reporters tried to recall a more painful display of catch-up campaigning. One New York reporter said watching Senate hopeful Rick Lazio step in dog poop on the eve of his loss to Hillary Clinton was pretty sad. But nope, she decided, this was definitely worse.

Friday staffers tried to beef up the crowds with a traveling entourage of volunteers with signs and T-shirts. One got downright testy when reporters happened upon rival Ned Lamont supporters.

They pounced when they realized Ingallinera was no friend of Joe's. Did I need help finding Lieberman supporters?

They needn't have worried. Ingallinera wasn't there to make trouble. He and Fran hid out in the library when they realized they had stumbled upon a Lieberman event. They would have made a quiet exit if Joe's bus wasn't blocking their car.

When they were outed, Ingallinera figured it was best to come clean. No disrespect intended, he said, extending his hand to Lieberman. ``I'm not a show up and beat up the other guy type of guy.''

Lieberman accepted the handshake but quickly moved on. There were six more stops on the tour bus, six more opportunities to tell folks that he's the better choice, and only a handful of days before Tuesday's primary to convince them that this time he was really listening.

Helen Ubinas' column appears on Thursdays and Sundays. She can be reached at ubinas@courant.com.